Gregory Robson
03/05/10, 09:55 AM
Julia Nunes - I Think You Know EP
Record Label: Rude Butler Records
Release Date: Feb. 2, 2010
Having recently completed the most dynamic and revolutionary decade the music business has ever seen, it's truly a mixed bag as to what's in store in the coming months. One thing is for certain, the rise of YouTube-inspired artists will probably only increase. Take for example, upstate New York's Julia Nunes. Posting choice covers and a few rare originals under the name Jaaaaaaaaaaa, Nunes became an overnight sensation. Her sudden fame found her opening select dates with Ben Folds and others. To date, she's released two full-length albums and is currently touring in support of her new EP I Think You Know.
Using her tride-and-true ukelele as her main weapon, the disc opens with "I Think You Know," a sly, cheeky kiss-off not unlike Erin McKeown or Lily Allen. Its playful, sarcastic and quite biting. Showing a softer side, she tackles sentimentality and inner-reflection in "Grown a Pair," a ditty which presents lines like, "I wish that I was taller, like when I go to shows, in truth I wish that I was smaller."
Nunes isn't exactly the next coming of Bob Dylan, but she does offer inspired and impassioned folk-rock. "Through the Floorboards," has the kind of weighty, ruminative musings that has seen Ingrid Michaelson jump to stardom, while the sweetly affecting "August," is a love-letter to a summer romance. The EP's weakest cut is the closer "Comatose," which borrows much of the McKeown-like angst of the title track but delivers far less. Her plinky ukelele is the only thing that saves the song from being an utter failure.
While Nunes isn't exactly inches from the Billboard charts, she most certainly has a charisma and a happy-go-lucky, every woman presence that is very enticing. More importantly, her status as an artist that began her career on a video-hosting Web site will be her lasting contribution. Will she be the artist that opens the floodgates for hordes of wannabes? Or is she the rare exception? An inspired upstart that took her newfound fame and used it to get her foot in the door.
Only time will tell.
Kate Nash, Regina Spektor, Lily Allen, Erin McKeown
Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/jaaaaaaa)
Website (http://www.junumusic.com)
Record Label: Rude Butler Records
Release Date: Feb. 2, 2010
Having recently completed the most dynamic and revolutionary decade the music business has ever seen, it's truly a mixed bag as to what's in store in the coming months. One thing is for certain, the rise of YouTube-inspired artists will probably only increase. Take for example, upstate New York's Julia Nunes. Posting choice covers and a few rare originals under the name Jaaaaaaaaaaa, Nunes became an overnight sensation. Her sudden fame found her opening select dates with Ben Folds and others. To date, she's released two full-length albums and is currently touring in support of her new EP I Think You Know.
Using her tride-and-true ukelele as her main weapon, the disc opens with "I Think You Know," a sly, cheeky kiss-off not unlike Erin McKeown or Lily Allen. Its playful, sarcastic and quite biting. Showing a softer side, she tackles sentimentality and inner-reflection in "Grown a Pair," a ditty which presents lines like, "I wish that I was taller, like when I go to shows, in truth I wish that I was smaller."
Nunes isn't exactly the next coming of Bob Dylan, but she does offer inspired and impassioned folk-rock. "Through the Floorboards," has the kind of weighty, ruminative musings that has seen Ingrid Michaelson jump to stardom, while the sweetly affecting "August," is a love-letter to a summer romance. The EP's weakest cut is the closer "Comatose," which borrows much of the McKeown-like angst of the title track but delivers far less. Her plinky ukelele is the only thing that saves the song from being an utter failure.
While Nunes isn't exactly inches from the Billboard charts, she most certainly has a charisma and a happy-go-lucky, every woman presence that is very enticing. More importantly, her status as an artist that began her career on a video-hosting Web site will be her lasting contribution. Will she be the artist that opens the floodgates for hordes of wannabes? Or is she the rare exception? An inspired upstart that took her newfound fame and used it to get her foot in the door.
Only time will tell.
Kate Nash, Regina Spektor, Lily Allen, Erin McKeown
Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/jaaaaaaa)
Website (http://www.junumusic.com)